CHURCH LADY: Good Friday traditions differ, but meaning stays the same

KATHLEEN TUTTLE

4:32 PM, Mar 27, 2013

San Marco Catholic Church displays a special crucifix on Good Friday. During the Good Friday service people approach the crucifix, touch it, kiss it or knee before it to recall Christ’s suffering and sacrifice.
/Kathleen Tuttle Special to the Eagle

Good Friday: In Ireland and Germany it’s called Black Friday; in Romania and Croatia it’s called Big Friday; in Norway it’s referred to as Long Friday and in Spanish-speaking countries it’s Holy Friday; and in Brazil it’s Passion of Christ Friday.

Over the years the Church Lady has interviewed Jews from Israel and Muslims from Pakistan and Turkey. How did they celebrate their holy days in their homelands? How was it different, the same?

Let’s explore the commonalities and differences for Good Friday.

Although the customs may differ the focus was the same; the sacrificial death of Christ, which along with the resurrection comprises the heart of the Christian faith.

San Marco Catholic church liturgist, Hilda Brosky explained that within the Roman Catholic Church the liturgy of Good Friday is probably the closest to the practice of the early church. Because it is such a sacred day, many scholars feel that it has not been changed or added to.

The responses of the people interviewed ranged from whimsical to wistful and poignant. Respondents missed the solidarity they felt in their homelands where Good Friday was a national holiday and it was not commercialized. It was a solemn day of pray and reflection.

“We were in sorrow because Christ was crucified for us,” said Sons and Daughters of Erin President Kathleen Reynolds. There was no school, her family fasted and went to church. Her custom here is to work a half-day, eat lightly, a little toast and salad and to go to San Marco Catholic Church.

Jim Fox, also from Ireland, remembered the three hours of silence from noon to 3 p.m. He recalled when he and his siblings put on their new Easter clothes on Good Friday and his mother couldn’t chastise them because she chose not to talk. It was his family’s custom to observe the Stations of the Cross in the afternoon and to attend an evening service. However, he didn’t understand the true meaning of Christ’s passion until he was 14. He also plans to go to the afternoon and evening service at San Marco and not eat meat.

Cape Coral’s Pastor Harold Popp officiates the German Christmas, Good Friday and Easter services at Marco Lutheran Church. He grew up in Croatia of German heritage. His family would gather in the living room for morning prayer on Good Friday and then nothing was said. Complete silence for 24 hours. He remembers his mother “sssh-ing” him. They also fasted, drinking only a little water. At church the pulpit and minister were all draped in black. There was no organ music or singing and the crucifixion portions of the gospels were read. Between 10 p.m. and midnight families would prepare themselves with prayer and reflection for the Resurrection.

The service at Marco Lutheran will also focus on the crucifixion scriptures. However, they will sing the beautiful hymns relating to Good Friday written by Johann Sebastian Bach as they remember the death of Christ with awe, prayer and respect.

The emphasis both here and in Croatia is a hope of the life to come.

Over the years the meaning of Good Friday has deepened and changed for Miha Pallipatte from Romania. “It’s all about grace,” she said. “Not what I do. It’s all about thankfulness, not works.” Her family’s Greek Orthodox tradition was to fast from Friday to Sunday, if possible. A little bread and water could be taken after sunset. The family would go to a midnight Mass where they received blessed wine and bread. The bread and wine were mixed in a spoon and taken before each full meal on Easter Sunday, Monday and Tuesday and as a remembrance they would say “Christ is Risen” three times.

She hopes to attend Good Friday service at Marco Presbyterian Church. “The service is a time of prayer and remembrance with my church family; realizing the sacrifice He made for us.”

She does, however, miss going to the midnight Mass. “No lights, just candles, the serenity of the setting. Just me and God.”

She was pleased to share that the church in Romania is growing stronger. They have Bible studies and are more involved with shepherding the people than they could under communism.

Jamaican Alicia Abbott also hopes to arrange to take the day off to attend St. Mark’s Episcopal Church’s Good Friday service. Although her homeland was a melting pot of countries and religions, including Judaism and Hinduism and all variations of Christianity, Easter is a four-day national holiday, from Good Friday to Easter Monday. She recalled the Jamaican four-hour services of silence and prayer. The sermons were longer, the hymns mournful and the singing somber. Reflecting on the Stations of the Cross has always been especially meaningful to her and her understanding and appreciation of what “Christ went through for me,” has grown over the years. Some Jamaicans would fast, some would eat no meat; it was a matter of conscious.

She laments that here Good Friday is just another day. In Jamaica Good Friday and Easter was observed everywhere, in the schools and the workplace. There were no Easter bunnies or egg hunts. “But there are people here who are focused on Christ and the true meaning (of Easter) and not bunnies.” At St. Mark’s they keep all the old traditions.

After you worship this weekend take the opportunity to dialogue with someone’s whose heritage is different then yours and explore how we are all one in Christ.